Back to the Car

This is a pic of Paul and John on our 1/2-mile hike back to the car. 

Throw Another Log on the Fire

This was our source of heat for the weekend. Thanks to Paul for getting up several times per night to keep the fire going. 

Inside the Cabin

John, aka "Mountain Man" (at least for the weekend).  

Roughing It

Since the cabin had no creature comforts (like running water), John and Paul would gather water from the stream. 

Paul's Cabin

Last month John and I were invited to stay the weekend in this cabin that our friend Paul's dad built in the Cascade Mountains near Stevens Pass. It was amazing how much snow there was out there! At the end of our drive we actually had to snowshoe the last 1/2 mile to the cabin. Fortunately the door opened "in" becase the snow was about 2/3 of the way up the door when we got there. (This picture shows the entrance post-shoveling.)  

Taken on Mercer Island near the bridge. 

This is the I-90 bridge - one of the two floating bridges that link Seattle with "The Eastside". This picture was taken from Mercer Island, halfway between the two. Mercer Island is a residential area populated by mostly wealthier families. It also happens to be where my office is, which is kind of unusual. (Almost all of Mercer Island is residential.) The nice thing about having our office on Mercer Island is that it is almost equally accessible to both Seattlites and Eastsiders. 

Coal Lake

Taking a break from India photos for a bit...

This is a picture of John at Coal Lake, a stop on one of the snowshoeing trips we did with James this winter. We snowshoed for the first time this year, and love it! It's a nice workout, the snowshoes give you the ability to walk wherever you want, and the trails are much more serene than in the summertime. (We see a lot fewer people.) We typically snowshoe on what are usually hiking trails in the summer. However, on this particular day finding the trail was tricky since ours were the first tracks through the snow. 

Baxi Home

This is a picture of Kamal, Siddharth, and Chandana's father at the home she grew up in. This Bombay apartment is SPOTLESS, and cleaned top to bottom every day. 

Electronics Store

Obviously a much different venue for buying electronics than I'm used to. 

Motorcyles in India

We were amazed at the uses for motorcycles in India. Here, this guy's motorcycle is being used to transport sheep. In other situations, we saw a family of 5 on one motorcycle. I guess it's good that there's so much traffic in these cities that it keeps speeds down. 

Buying Pearls

Hyderabad is known for its pearls, as it is the hub (at least for India) at which all pearls are drilled and strung. At shops like this you will be offered tea (as you see here) upon showing a real intention to buy. 

Hyderabad

This picture was taken looking the opposite direction of the Charminar. The street is a chaotic mixture of cars, people, and food stands. I felt sorry for the Muslim women who have to wear all black on top of their regular clothes because it was incredibly hot. (They must have been dying of heat under all of their garments.) I'm not sure whose idea it was to make all black garments a requirement, but it doesn't seem like the best idea for a cultural group that lives in such a hot climate. 

Charminar

This "gate" (of which you can only see the bottom half here) is called Charminar, located in the heart of old-town Hyderabad. It was built by Quli Qutub Shah in 1591 to commemorate the end of the plague epidemic. 

Watch Out Below

Would hate to have one of the fruit from this tree fall on me! 

Who put lipstick on the statues?

Right next to Tipu's Palace was another more lavish palace that had a very intricately designed turret. I thought it was interesting that some of the carvings had their lips painted red.